John Deacon John Deacon Date Of Birth August 19, 1951 Birthplace Leicester, England Instruments Bass guitar, double bass, keyboards John Deacon’s first guitar was a red plastic "Tommy Steele" special, which his parents bought for him when he was seven. John’s father, Arthur, however, led him in a different direction, encouraging John to tinker with electronics, a hobby that Arthur himself loved. One of John's early projects included adapting an old reel-to-reel tape deck to record music from the radio - usually The Beatles and Alan Freeman's Hit Parade. John’s interest in electronics developed into a passion, and in his younger years at least, he thought of turning his hobby into a career. But side by side with his interest in electronics, John's interest in music was also growing, particularly triggered when he bought The Beatles first two albums. Becoming a huge fan of the band, John took the decision to learn how to play the guitar. Diligently saving the money from his early morning paper round, John was able to buy a ‘proper’ guitar. He then threw himself into practising, and was soon jamming in a friend's garage.

By the age of fourteen John was well practised enough to form his first band, The Opposition. Over the next few years, The Opposition went through numerous line-up changes and played many gigs. By the end of 1966, the band had a strong following throughout John’s home turf of Leicester. But when, later that year, the Opposition's bassist left the band, it fell to John to fill the gap. So, he bought his first bass guitar, an Eko, for £22, and with the change of line-up, the band changed their name to The New Opposition, with John now playing the bass. Several band name changes later (they were now called Art), 1969 saw John leaving the band for London, taking up studies in electronics at Chelsea College, University of London. For the moment, music took second place to electronics, but John had of course brought along his old acoustic guitar just in case an opportunity came up. John went on to achieve a First Class Honours Degree in Electronics that same year. In October of 1970, John went to see a performance by a new band called Queen.

He recalls, "They were all dressed in black, and the lights were very dim too, so all I could see were four shadowy figures. They didn't make a lasting impression on me at the time.” But several months later, in early 1971, John again encountered Queen, when he was introduced to Brian May and Roger Taylor. For their part, they had not been impressed by the bass players they’d encountered and had just lost their seventh. They asked John if he was interested in auditioning and days later John found himself at a lecture hall at Imperial College where the band was rehearsing. He brought along his trusty bass guitar and his own custom- adapted amp, now known as the legendary ‘Deacy Amp’. He began to learn ‘Son And Daughter’ and a few other songs the group had been playing. Not long after, on 1 March 1971, John Richard Deacon became the fourth and final member of Queen, largely, as history recounts it, not only because he was a brilliant bass player, but he was also quiet and didn’t try to upstage the others, particularly the band’s lead singer, the very larger than life Freddie Mercury.

At just 19, John was the youngest member to join the band. That home-made amp, the ‘Deacy’, which helped John take his place in Queen and is also now used by Brian May, is shortly to become commercially available. John’s image as ‘the quiet one’ in Queen extended to their early recording sessions, in London, which focused on songs written by Freddie, Brian and Roger. John’s standing as the ‘invisible man’ of the group was humorously marked by the band on their first album, Queen, where they changed his name in the sleeve credits to Deacon John, rather than the other way around, to “make him sound more interesting”. This returned to normal for Queen II. It wasn’t until the band’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack, that John’s first composition for Queen appeared, with the rather catchy ‘Misfire’. More of a Pop/Motown kind of guy - strangely at odds with Brian and Roger’s rock roots and Freddie’s grand musical landscapes - John’s writing skills flourished in the recording sessions which followed.

He would go on to compose some of Queen’s biggest and most popular hits including ‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘I Want To Break Free’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, propelling Queen’s career to new heights in the US, topping the charts for three weeks and being voted the Favourite Single in the Pop/Rock category at the American Music Awards in 1981. The Another One Bites the Dust single was such a hit right across the board that it even found an audience on the black audience radio stations, reaching No. 2 in the national R & B charts. Along with ‘We Are The Champions’ and ‘We Will Rock You’, the song has passed into legend by becoming Queen’s third major sports anthem. John took a brief foray into solo work when in 1986 he formed The Immortals, and released one single, ‘No Turning Back’, and contributing to the original soundtrack of the film Biggles, based on the Royal Flying Corps pilot character in the series of novels written by Captain W.E. Johns.

Today John lives a life retired from Queen but still takes an interest in the continuance of the legacy of the band, and remains in contact with former bandmates, Roger Taylor and Brian May. John’s last appearance on stage with Queen was at the Paris National Théâtre de Chailioton 17 January 1997 at the Gala premiere of Maurice Béjart’s AIDS-inspired Ballet for Life, dedicated to Freddie Mercury and dancer, Jorge Donn, performing ‘The Show Must Go On’ with Elton John joining the band on vocals. John joined his former bandmates for one final time in October 1997 for the recording of the Brian May song, ‘No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)’, released by Queen as apersonal tribute to the late Freddie Mercury.

Bass Legends: Queen's John Deacon | MusicRadar Bass Legends: Queen's John Deacon Bass Legends: Queen's John Deacon Bass Week celebrates one of the giants of electric bass Shares Deacon with Queen at Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1975 (Image: © Martyn Goddard/Corbis) Freddie Mercury's recent would be 65th birthday cannot fail to bring Queen's bassist John Deacon to mind. Deacon is not only the first in our series of Bass Legend profiles to coincide with Bass Week on MusicRadar , but also the only player to have two entries in our greatest basslines of all time poll . Since the demise of the band following Freddie's tragic death Deacon went to ground, avoiding anything to do with Queen thereafter with the exception of the Freddie Mercury Tribute gig at Wembley Stadium in 1992, but even for that he wasn't involved in the rehearsals! After many failed attempts to interview him over the years we tried the sneaky approach and asked Brian May if he could possibly pull a few strings for us?

He laughed, "He won't talk to me so why the fuck would he talk to you?" A good point well made Brian, and from that moment on any hope of an interview was promptly abandoned. But gone is not forgotten. John was/is (he may still play at home) an amazingly melodic bass player and although he's probably best known for the dominant riff on his composition, Another One Bites The Dust, he first caught our attention on Killer Queen. YouTube : You know the bit, as Freddie sings 'Fastidious and precise', John throws in a little lick that is exactly that! It's a very slick musical representation of the lyrics and a positive joy to the ears. But John didn't start in music by playing bass, in fact it was the Beatles and particularly John Lennon that fired his imagination and in 1963 this 12-year-old purchased an acoustic guitar. He was also a bit of a whiz with electronics so his first outing with a band was as a roadie/electrician but soon he became their rhythm player. However it was the bass player that was the weakest link in the band so John bought an EKO bass and in 1966 and took over.

"If I'd just been a bass player all my life with the band, I wouldn't be as satisfied as I am because I only consider that as part of what I do." A chance meeting at a party introduced him to Brian May and Roger Taylor. They were desperate to find the right bass player for their band so John was invited to audition. He could obviously play and being of a quiet disposition, John fitted in well, "They tried several others before me but their personalities seemed to clash but I wasn't likely to upstage Brian or Freddie." {PAGEBREAK} YouTube : Queen was complete but in spite of being a good band, success was far from overnight. Their first album was completed two years before its release and it failed to make any impact when it finally escaped. The next, Queen II, produced Seven Seas Of Rhye and as a single it received good radio play and became a top ten hit. Fortunes would really change however with the next album, Sheer Heart Attack. John recalls, "I knew the band had something but I wasn't fully convinced until that album.

A lot of people thought we were just a heavy metal band but Killer Queen showed a completely new side to us." The album also contained Misfire , John's first composition for the band on which he played rhythm guitar as well as bass. Sheer Heart Attack showed just how varied Queen could be with their compositions and musical interpretations. At the top Now they were on their way but A Night At The Opera, released in 1975, produced even greater results thanks to the mega selling Bohemian Rhapsody. It was good news for John too when his song, You're My Best Friend, was taken as a single pull and also charted. As Brian May said at the time, 'It's just the perfect pop song' and it did wonders to John's confidence as a writer. Deacon's Precision playing John has used a few basses in his long career, including occasional upright excursions on record and a Jetglo Rickenbacker 4001 in the early days but he is best known for using the trusty Fender Precision. There were several of these (unless someone was rather handy with a paint sprayer) but the sunburst one seemed to be a favourite.

There was also one with a stripped body, a black one and even one of the first P-Bass models. Some early pictures show him with a natural Fender Jazz Bass, others where he's using a Kramer Custom, a Wal Pro Bass and a sunburst Music Man StingRay could be seen as a backup on several shows. John went for a Warwick Buzzard for the Friends Will Be Friends promo video which seems a strange choice for him but it's certainly visually impressive. But the instrument that seemed to find favour in the later years was the custom built Roger Griffin bass, similar to a Precision with a pair of pickups and natural wood finish. Each subsequent album would feature one or more tracks written by him but it was the ability of all four members to write good material that first put a strain on the band. The choice of whose material went where (album, single, B-side) caused heavy arguments and the fact that John was introducing much more of an R&B element to his songs that left little or no room for Brian's guitar acrobatics didn't help at all.

What was more significant was the fact that Freddie seemed to embrace this musical diversion and with John he wrote Cool Cat, essentially a bass riff with scat singing and including David Bowie on the original version . Bowie had called in to see the band whilst they were recording the Hot Space album in Switzerland and this led to them recording Under Pressure together. Released as a single it became a huge hit worldwide. So did I Want To Break Free (another Deacon song) from The Works 1984, but the promo video featuring the band in drag did not go down well in America and effectively destroyed their singles career over there until after Freddie had died. {PAGEBREAK} Wembley calling When asked to perform at Live Aid the band weren't sure at all. With so many of the newer acts appearing they were there to represent the established artists. The performing schedule was strict and there were no soundchecks but they decided to do it. Coming from the end of a tour they were extremely 'gig fit' and stole the show. In spite of their album sales having declined somewhat over the previous years (partly due to this seeming lack of focussed direction) they captured everyone's attention and the band was effectively reborn!

"It was the one day that I was proud to be involved in the music business", John recalls. "The day was fabulous, people forgot that element of competitiveness and it was a good morale booster for us too." Life was certainly good but by the time the band recorded The Miracle album in 1989, Freddie was having serious health issues. They decided to start work immediately on the next album, Innuendo, and that was completed and released to much acclaim. Dusty Trivia On its release in 1980 Another One Bites The Dust sailed to the top of the American charts and stayed there for quite a while, out selling Queen's other biggie of that year, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Curiously both tracks offered a new musical angle to the band's repertoire but whilst Crazy Little Thing looked back on their early musical influences, Another One Bites The Dust was a new funky element for the band and totally unexpected. In the days when he did talk John revealed "I listened to a lot of soul music when I was in school and I'd been wanting to do a track like Another One Bites The Dust for a while but originally all I had was the line and the bass riff.

Gradually I filled it in and the band added ideas." Released on The Game album 1980, the track was picked up and played on some of the soul radio stations in America and it was actually Michael Jackson (a big fan of the band) who suggested it was released as a single and the rest is history. Later on, it was used as the theme for the UK TV show Gladiators and that track alone has probably helped keep John financially secure in his musical hibernation. Freddie refused to stop working and they laid down the basic tracks for the last Queen album, Made In Heaven (released in 1995) and it very nearly was. In November 1991 Freddie lost his fight and unlike Roger Taylor and Brian May, John could see no point in carrying on. He participated in a few projects afterwards and played a handful of gigs with various people but nothing that featured his name. As a bass player, John Deacon has been vastly underrated and this is probably due to him being the shy part of a quartet that featured three outstanding personalities, but without doubt it was John's solid and sometimes inspirational playing that helped them all to shine.

Looking back on his time with Queen, Deacon always felt that the writing side was important part. "If I'd just been a bass player all my life with the band, I wouldn't be as satisfied as I am because I only consider that as part of what I do. The songwriting and being involved in the decision making processes means I've been able to have a part in the bands destiny." And what a destiny it's been! YouTube : Queen Interviews - John Deacon - 01-30-2005 - The Mail on Sunday - Queen's Boring Bassist - Queen Archives: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Interviews, Articles, Reviews Articles > John Deacon Articles > 01-30-2005 - The Mail on Sunday - Queen's Boring Bassist HOW FREDDIE MERCURY'S DEATH DROVE QUEEN'S 'BORING' BASSIST INTO THE ARMS OF A LAP DANCER The idea of legendary rock band Queen going on the road without Freddie Mercury, their flamboyant lead singer who died of AIDS, is inconceivable to many fans.

But when the band announced they would embark on their first tour in 19 years this May, the concerts sold out in hours. When they take to the stage, Mercury's replacement, Paul Rodgers from Bad Company, will be joined by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. But John Deacon, the 'no-nonsense' bass player will be missing. What could lie behind his decision to give up the chance to join the lucrative tour? Why has he distanced himself from the remaining band members and resolutely avoided the limelight since Mercury's death in 1991? Since his colleague's death, this solid family man, a dedicated father of six embarked on a pattern of behaviour completely out of keeping with his image as the boring man of rock. He became a regular at a London strip club and became involved with a lap dancer and glamour model 25 years his junior. Leading an amazing double life, he even bought her a flat and a new Mercedes sports car. Maybe this awkward and unlikely situation is why he has refused to give interviews and even failed to attend May's wedding in November 2000 to his longtime girlfriend, actress Anita Dobson.

Although Deacon, 53, was always portrayed as the band's most uncomplicated member, it appears he was, in fact, much more complex and intriguing. For behind his shy, enigmatic demeanour lies a man crippled by insecurities, haunted by the death of Mercury and resentful of the success of May and Taylor. Deacon was born on August 19, 1951, at St Francis Private Hospital, Leicester. He was the adored eldest son of Lillian and Arthur. Arthur, an insurance broker, took his son on fishing trips and trainspotting expeditions. He also encouraged him to take up the guitar when he was just seven. When his father died suddenly when he was 11, Deacon was devastated. He threw himself into music and formed his own band, The Opposition, when he was 14. According to Jenny Fewins, who danced with The Opposition, he was 'a boring charneveracter. The clearest memory I have of him is being in a dressing room and everybody larking about. John never said a word. He was completely unremarkable.' After school, Deacon studied electronics at the University of London.

There, in 1971, he was introduced to Queen's founder members Taylor and May. They had just recruited Mercury and were casting around for a bass player. 'We were so over-the-top, we thought that because he was quiet, he would fit in with us without too much upheaval,' recalled Taylor. May agreed: 'He's very solid and nononsense. He's always got his feet firmly on the ground.' Privately though, even then Deacon felt detached from his colleagues. He once said: 'We all have our own friends. I would never think of going round to Fred's house and he would come to mine. We are just poles apart in that sense.' At 20, he met trainee teacher, Veronica Tetzlaff, at a disco. From a devout Catholic family of Polish origin, Veronica shocked her parents when she fell pregnant in October 1974 with their first child, Jimmy. Deacon and Veronica hastily married in January 1975. Typically, at the wedding it was Mercury who stole the show. Wearing a feather boa, with a woman on either arm, the singer made a grand entrance at the Carmelite church in Kensington.

By 1982 Queen had already released their first Greatest Hits album and were cementing their reputation as the biggest British band since The Beatles. Much as he hated the attention, John was forced to live with it but it was having a damaging effect on his marriage and family life. Ruth Bullen, wife of Deacon's best man, Nigel, says: 'When he came back off a tour, he couldn't revert to being an ordinary person, playing with the kids, taking them to the park and things,' Veronica , a demure redhead, was hardly the archetypal rock star wife. 'She's a normal, quiet, devout Catholic,' says Ruth. 'She wasn't into the glamorous life at all. It took her a few years to realise she could have practically anything she wanted. It was ages before she got a nanny to help with the children.' When the band took a break in 1985 to pursue solo projects, John who didn't sing confessed: 'I went spare, really, because we were doing so little. I got really bored and I got quite depressed.' Queen reformed the following year and continued to dominate the charts, playing sell- out stadium tours for the next two years.

In 1989, Mercury was diagnosed with HIV and in November, 1991, he died, leaving his band members shattered none more so than Deacon. 'Freddie's death affected him badly,' says Deacon's college friend and musical collaborator, Robert Ahwai. ' Maybe he thought "Freddie was the band, so what's the point?" John had lost his father when he was quite young. He suffered from depression after Freddie died and I am not sure he has ever come out of it.' While May and Taylor rushed to pay tribute to Mercury, Deacon didn't approve of the hype surrounding his death and avoided speaking in public. With Mercury dead, it looked unlikely Queen would ever reform. May and Taylor went on to solo projects with some success, but Deacon and Ahwai suffered a series of failures, sending the bass- player further into a spiral of depression. Once again Deacon withdrew into himself, ostensibly to concentrate on spending time with his wife, five sons and one daughter. However, three years ago he began spending evenings alone at the most unlikely venue: Sophisticats strip club in the West End of London.

Simon Langer, joint owner of Sophisticats, says: 'We took over the club in October 2001 and Deacon was coming here then. We knew who he was. He would sit in the VIP suite drinking expensive champagne. He was very quiet and, as far as I could see, did not have much of a character to speak of. 'One of the girls Olga, who is Russian said Deacon had first started coming in here eight months before I took over, and had texted her every day asking her out. But she said he was too old and she wasn't interested.' So, instead, Deacon turned his attentions to British lap dancer Emma Shelley, 25, who performed under the stage name 'Pushbar'. It was a most unusual friendship, and one he tried to keep secret from his wife of 27 years despite taking Emma to highprofile London restaurants such as Nobu. Before long, he was reportedly lavishing the model who is well known on the glamour scene and a regular on the Playboy TV channel with expensive gifts. According to Langer, he paid for Emma and her family to go on a Pounds 10,000 holiday to Marbella.

She was then seen driving a new Pounds 25,000 Mercedes sports car and, according to Land Registry records, Deacon bought her a flat in January 2002 for Pounds 316,000 cash. But shortly after their relationship became public, John stopped seeing Emma and today she insists they are no longer together. Speaking from her mother's smart bungalow in Purley, Surrey, with the Mercedes SLK parked outside, she says the relationship ended when 'I found out that John was a family man.' Characteristically, Deacon refuses to comment. Today, as the rest of Queen prepare for the tour, Deacon lives with his family in their four-bedroom house in Putney, South-West London. His only comment on the idea of Queen reforming came when it was suggested that Robbie Williams might fill Mercury's shoes. 'I don't want to be nasty, but Robbie Williams is no Freddie Mercury. Freddie can never be replaced and certainly not by him.' Perhaps no one will ever know the real John Deacon. One thing, though, is sure.

As Ruth Bullen puts it, 'I don't suppose you can live the life he has without paying a price.' QUEEN CONCERTS - Complete Queen live concertography Queen on tour Concertography > Queen on tour The names of the tours may not be exact, perhaps there was no "Queen I tour" or "Queen II tour" but I did my best to find an appropriate name if any was available. Should you find any mistake, please let me know. For a great list of cancelled and rescheduled concerts visit this site .

Original band line-up [1970-1986] Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano, acoustic and electric guitar, tambourine, synths Brian May - electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals, banjo, piano, keyboards Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals, tambourine, timpani John Deacon - bass guitar, triangle, guitar, backing vocals (?) Bass players in the Queen history Mike Grose (April - August 1970) Barry Mitchell (August 1970 - January 1971) Doug Bogie (January - February 1971) - some sources say his surname was Ewood but that's probably a different musician John Deacon (February 1971 onwards) Auxiliary musicians Morgan Fisher - keyboards/piano on European Hot Space tour (09.04.1982 - 05.06.1982) Fred Mandel - keyboards/piano on the rest of Hot Space tour (21.07.1982 - 03.11.1982) Spike Edney - keyboards/piano, guitar and backing vocals on the Works and Magic tours Morgan Fisher left the band because

 he was into Eastern spirituality and meditation - he didn't feel comfortable in the band nor they with him.

Queen simply sent him a telegram after the European tour, saying they no longer needed a keyboard player - which was not true because they soon got Fred Mandel in. Fred Mandel left because Queen stopped touring and he was hired by Supertramp (1983) and later by Elton John (1984) but he still worked with Queen members throughout this period (Starfleet Project, Mr. Bad Guy). Spike was obviously the right man - wherever you saw Brian and Roger in concert in the past years, you can be sure Spike was there too.

Guests on Queen concerts Billy Squier - 15.09.1982 Los Angeles, USA (vocals in Jailhouse Rock) Fish - 21.06.1986 Mannheim, Germany (vocals in Tutti Frutti) John Reid + crew - 22.12.1977 Los Angeles, USA (vocals in White Christmas) Maradona - 08.03.1981 Buenos Aires, Argentina (only said a couple words before AOBTD) Rick Parfitt - 07.09.1984 London, UK (guitar in Jailhouse Rock) Tony Hadley - 13.04.1985 Auckland, New Zealand (vocals in Jailhouse Rock) Queen + Paul Rodgers: band line-up [2005-2008] Paul Rodgers (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, piano) Brian May (lead guitar, acoustic guitar, lead/backing vocals) Roger Taylor (drums, lead/backing vocals) Jamie Moses (rhytm guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) Danny Miranda (bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals)

 Spike Edney (keyboards, backing vocals) Queen + Adam Lambert: band line-up [2012-2015] Adam Lambert (lead vocals) Brian May (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lead/backing vocals) Roger Taylor (drums, lead/backing vocals) Neil Fairclough (bass guitar, backing vocals) Spike Edney (keyboards, backing vocals) Rufus Taylor (drums, percussions) Queen: 'Freddie Mercury felt like a god.

Then he started behaving like one,' by the man who signed the band | Daily Mail Online comments NORMAN J SHEFFIELD on the amazing story of how one of Britain's best loved rock bands made it big Freddie Mercury used to say there was no question in his mind that Queen would be a success I was sitting in my office one day in 1971 when I got a call from my brother Barry down in the studio. ‘Norman, come down and have a listen to something,’ he said. John Anthony, Trident’s A&R man, had discovered a band called Smile. At the start, the lead guitarist was an astrophysics student from Imperial College called Brian May, the bassist and singer was an art student called Tim Staffell, and the drummer was a biology student called Roger Taylor. It turned out that they’d now reshaped the band. Staffell had been replaced by this little Indian-looking guy with a big, operatic voice and they had a new bass player. John had asked for their demo. It was raw but there was definitely something there. I’d opened Trident Studios in 1968 in Soho.

Its cutting-edge facilities and happening vibe were attracting the greatest talents of the era, from The Beatles and Elton John to David Bowie and Marc Bolan. The four guys who came into my office a couple of weeks later were an intriguing mix of characters. Roger Taylor was a really good-looking kid, with long blond hair and charm. Brian May was tall with a mane of curls and a little introverted but clearly very intelligent. The bass player, John Deacon, was also quiet. I could tell right away that the fourth member was going to be high maintenance. His real name was Farokh Bulsara. He was born in Zanzibar and educated in India. The family had immigrated to England when he was a teenager. He’d gone to Ealing Art College to study art and graphic design. He was also a gifted singer and pianist. When he joined the band, he immediately gave himself a more rock ’n’ roll name: Freddie Mercury. He was charming, acted a bit shy and reserved at times and spoke in quite a posh, mannered voice. When he relaxed he had a very sharp sense of humour and spoke at a hundred miles an hour.

Queen turned out to be every bit as good - and demanding - as we'd anticipated. Things had to be one hundred per cent right, otherwise they wouldn't be happy They’d rightly decided to ditch Smile as their name. I nearly choked on my coffee when I heard their new one: Queen. The world wasn’t as enlightened then as it is today. We were worried that it would be a real turn-off, especially given the band’s look. Freddie apparently had a girlfriend but we were pretty certain he was gay. But the name wasn’t up for negotiation. I agreed to offer the Queenies, as we christened them, a loose kind of arrangement. There were times when the studio was ‘dark’, usually at 2am. So we said: ‘We’ll give you this downtime in the studio to see what you can do.’ They turned out to be every bit as good – and demanding – as we’d anticipated. Things had to be one hundred per cent right, otherwise they wouldn’t be happy. They’d spend days and nights working on the harmonies. Arguments would start about the tiniest little detail. They’d start screaming, shouting and chucking things.

Sometimes it would blow over in a few minutes, but at other times they would stew on it, not talking to each other for a day or two. They’d always sort it out, however. It wasn’t personal, it was about the work. The more adulation Freddie received on stage, the harder he became to work with offstage Freddie used to say there was no question in his mind that Queen would be a success. ‘There was never a doubt, darling, never,’ he’d say with an imperious wave of his hand. The title of their first album was simply Queen. Another suggestion had been Dearie Me, Freddie’s catchphrase, which was quite funny but the band were a hard enough sell as it was. They spent ages arguing about the album sleeve. The front cover was a single image of Freddie on stage, with two spotlights in the background. For the back cover the boys put together a collage of snaps of themselves. Freddie had driven everyone to distraction fretting over whether he looked ‘gorgeous enough’ in them. By the end of the year they were on the road with Mott the Hoople, but Queen were getting more encores and bigger cheers than the headliners.

They were due to go to Australia for a gig when Brian suddenly developed a really high fever. His arm had swollen up to the size of a football and doctors diagnosed gangrene. At one point it was touch and go whether he would lose it. Luckily the crisis eased and he was allowed to fly. However, the gig was a disaster. The local DJ introducing them had clearly taken against them because he introduced them as ‘stuck-up Pommies’. When they got on stage, the crowd turned against them, too. The boys were mightily relieved when they got on a plane back to London. For some bizarre reason, the British press had been tipped off that Her Majesty the Queen was arriving at Heathrow. So when they saw four knackered musicians emerging through Customs, they weren’t too happy. On their first tour of America, Brian’s health was deteriorating. Our worst fears were confirmed when doctors announced he had hepatitis. The rest of the tour had to be cancelled. It was a disaster, professionally and personally. Then, when they came back to London in August, he had to have an emergency operation for an ulcer.

The opening track on A Night At The Opera attacked their management But on October 11, 1974, EMI put out Killer Queen, from their third album, Sheer Heart Attack. Within weeks it had given the boys the thing they’d most wanted – a No. 1 single. As Queen hit the road again, this time as a headline act in their own right, it was clear they were on the verge of major success. But the more adulation Freddie received on stage, the harder he became to work with offstage. The tour came to an end at the famous Rainbow Theatre in London. The day before the gig, Freddie was being even more pedantic than usual. ‘Oh, stop being such a tart, Freddie,’ Brian said. Freddie was outraged. He tossed back his head, waved his arms and stormed off in a strop. When it was time for the soundcheck, Brian turned the mic on. ‘Freddiepoos, where are you?’ he shouted. Freddie appeared immediately with a face like thunder. He flounced on stage, gave Brian a vicious look and then just got on with it. That’s what they always did.

In 1975 they went to Japan and found 3,000 fans waiting for them, all chanting the band’s name. It was like Beatlemania. Freddie had finally found the acclaim he’d craved all his life. He felt like a god. Unfortunately, he soon started behaving like one, too. The more successful they became, the more agitated Queen had grown about money. One of the most heated rows came when John got married. In the run-up to the wedding he announced he wanted me to spring £10,000 (about £90,000 in 2013 values) for him to buy a house. I didn’t react too well. Then Freddie demanded a grand piano. When I turned him down, he banged his fist on my desk. ‘I have to get a grand piano,’ he said. Norman J Sheffield: By the time I realised things were badly wrong it was too late I wasn’t being mean. We knew there was a huge amount of money due to come flooding our way from Queen’s success. I explained that some of it was already coming in but the vast majority of it hadn’t arrived yet. ‘But we’re stars.

We’re selling millions of records,’ Freddie said. ‘And I’m still living in the same flat I’ve been in for the past three years.’ The amount of money we’d invested in the band was huge. We’d advanced them equipment and salaries right at the beginning and had continued to pour money into them for four years. The fact the band owed Trident close to £200,000 (£1.75 million today) didn’t seem to register with Freddie. I can remember the conversation. ‘The money will come in December,’ I said. ‘So wait.’ Then came a phrase he would make famous around the world in years to come, although no one would have known where it was born. Freddie stamped his feet and raised his voice: ‘No, I am not prepared to wait any longer. I want it all. I want it now.’ By late 1975 I was hearing that they were making all sorts of derogatory comments about Trident. Then I heard a track from A Night At The Opera called Death On Two Legs. The opening two lines summed up what was to come.

‘You suck my blood like a leech/you break the law and you breach’, then, ‘Do you feel like suicide?’ it went on, ‘I think that you should’. It was some kind of nasty hate mail from Freddie to me. Soon Bohemian Rhapsody roared to the top of the UK charts and stayed there for nine weeks. A bittersweet moment, it came as news was beginning to leak that we had split from Queen. We should have talked more. And I should have been more attentive to their feelings. By the time I realised things were badly wrong, it was too late. In March 1977 the company settled with the band for the sale of all of its future rights, the rights to the old albums and the settlement of the management debt. Freddie’s dream finally came true and he became a very wealthy man. When he died, no one was sadder than me. He may have been a monster to deal with, but he was also a genius. I did see him once, in the years following our fallout, in 1986, when I took the family to their Knebworth concert. He was friendly, as if the rows of the past were forgotten.

It turned out to be their last live concert, which meant I was at their first and last. Years later, after his death, I went to the Freddie Mercury Memorial Concert at Wembley, where I saw the three remaining members being photographed. John Deacon pointed at me and said: ‘And if it hadn’t been for that man we wouldn’t be here.’ Brian and Roger looked at me and nodded. That gesture went a long way towards exorcising the ghosts of the past. Extracted from ‘Life On Two Legs: Set The Record Straight’ by Norman J Sheffield, out now and online from Amazon and in bookshops priced £14.95 for paperback, £7.49 for Kindle. A limited-edition hardback is also available at £24.95. For more images, visit facebook.com/lifeontwolegs Queen bass player John Deacon now wears sensible anoraks and grey trousers | Daily Mail Online comments With his sensible anorak and grey trousers, he hardly seems the typical rock star. Indeed, anyone passing this unassuming- looking gentleman in the street would probably fail to give him a second glance.

And that’s just the way he likes it – because this is John Deacon, the reclusive former Queen bass player who wrote some of their biggest hits and is now worth £85million. Low profile: John Deacon is pictured out and about in London (left) and with Queen in 1984 (right, far left) Strolling near his home holding a copy of the Daily Mail, the 64-year-old looked a far cry from the flamboyantly-dressed figure who rose to fame with the band in the 1970s. Despite not having played with Queen since 1997, Deacon receives lucrative royalties from his hits such as I Want To Break Free. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share This week the group’s remaining members, Roger Taylor, 66, and Brian May, 68, set off on a tour of South America. Former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert, 33, is taking the place of singer Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991 after suffering from Aids. But Deacon turned down the chance to rejoin the band – estimated to have sold up to 300million albums – and stayed at home in west London.

Last year May and Taylor said they barely keep in touch with him and that he has ‘completely retired from any kind of social contact’. Rock out: Freddie Mercury and John Deacon are pictured on stage at a Queen concert in Stockholm in 1986 Taylor said: ‘I think he’s a little fragile and just didn’t want to know anything about talking to people in the music business or whatever. That’s fair enough. We respect that.’ May added: ‘He wants to be private and in his own universe. He still keeps an eye on the finances, though.’ Deacon, a father of six who lives with his wife of 40 years Veronica Tetzlaff, has seen his fortune grow by an estimated £20million in the past four years, partly due to the success of West End musical We Will Rock You.

Question: Who was the "quiet" man bass player with Queen?
Answer: JOHN DEACON